1. Help an Overweight Child Lose Weight
Lowering a child's weight can also help to control his high blood pressure. Children who must lose weight tend to have greater success when the entire family undergoes a lifestyle change together. Parents should insist that the whole family eat only healthy, low-fat foods. Families can also fight high blood pressure with daily exercise. Limiting the amount of time children spend in front of the television or computer encourage them to be more active every day, which will lower blood pressure. Your child's pediatrician can suggest guidelines for diet and exercise.
2. Hypertension From Other Conditions
Secondary hypertension is high blood pressure that's caused by another condition, such as heart or kidney disease. Treating the underlying cause of the high blood pressure usually solves the problem. Sometimes a physician treats the underlying cause of the hypertension along with the high blood pressure. Your child's pediatrician should take a blood pressure reading every time your child comes in for a visit, or yearly once the child reaches three years of age. Early detection leads to quicker management of the condition and reduces the probability of complications from hypertension in the child's adult years.
3. When Diet and Exercise Fail to Do the Trick
When diet and exercise fail to lower a child's high blood pressure, doctors may turn to medication to control the condition. High blood pressure medications range from beta blockers, which lower the heart rate to lower blood pressure, to diuretics, which expel excess fluids and salt through urination. Other blood pressure medications include ACE (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) inhibitors, which ease the workload on the heart by expanding blood vessels, and AT-2 (Angiotensin-2) receptor antagonists, which work much like the ACE inhibitors. Calcium channel blockers also lower blood pressure by keeping calcium deposits from forming in the heart and vessels. Once a child starts taking blood pressure medication, her symptoms can improve enough to discontinue using the medicine. Others may require lifetime maintenance to keep their hypertension under control.
